Kenyan-born scholar to head senate for first ‘black university’ in the US
Prof Edward Ombati Manyibe.
A Kenyan-born scholar has been elected to head the highest decision making body of the first historically ‘black university’ in the State of Oklahoma in the United States.
Prof Edward Ombati Manyibe was this week elected chairman of Langston University Faculty Senate, a prestigious and influential position in the governance and management of the institution.
The scholar who was born and raised up in Kisii, is the first Kenyan immigrant to head the faculty senate in the US.
The Senate is a deliberative body that reviews University-wide policies and proposes changes in university practices and structure and ensuring that academic programs are of high quality. The apex body makes its recommendations to the president of the university.
Prof Manyibe will now preside over the meetings of the senate and the institution’s council and serve as the official spokesperson for the Langston University Faculty Senate.
The scholar also serves as the Capacity Building Director and Research Associate Professor at the Rehabilitation Research and Training Center (RRTC) on Research and Capacity Building for Minority Entities, Langston University.
“The mission of the Langston University RRTC is to empower minority-serving institutions to improve their disability and rehabilitation research capacity and infrastructure. The RRTC also serves as a center of national excellence in rehabilitation, research capacity building and research infrastructure research,” Prof Manyibe told nation.africa via zoom interview.
Prof. Manyibe holds a Ph.D. degree in Rehabilitation from the University of Arizona, a Master of Science degree in Rehabilitation Counseling from Bowling Green State University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology and Literature from the University of Nairobi.
Langston University was founded in 1897after black citizens – who were not permitted to attend any of the institutions of higher education in Oklahoma Territory - petitioned territorial Governor William Gary Renfrow that Langston have a college.
Eventually, Territorial Governor William Gary Renfrow, who had vetoed a civil rights bill that would have disregarded segregation, proposed a reform bill establishing the university.
Prof Manyibe is currently co-principal Investigator of several federally sponsored research projects and technical assistance efforts focused on research capacity building for minority entities and empowering traditionally underserved populations.
“My areas of research include research capacity building, research mentorship, disability policy in developing countries and rehabilitation outcomes,” says Prof Manyibe who recently won the prestigious 2018 Bobbie Atkins Research Award from the National Association of Multicultural Rehabilitation Concerns (NAMRC).
